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Guinness World Record

LONGEST CONTINUOUS DRIFT

​May 11, 2013BMW Performance Center​Greer, SC51.278 Miles

Setting goals - Breaking Records

This isn't Johan's first World record, but it is the first one officially on the books. Ever since Johan was part of a team in 2001 who set a record for the longest distance travelled in a go kart in 24 hours (this was a lay down kart and team set record on Charlotte Motor Speedways big track), he has been looking for the right opportunity to set an official record for the books.

Planning & Preparations

In Fall of 2012, Johan partnered with BMW Performance Center to set a date to break the record for the longest continuous drift. The event was well timed and took place in conjunction with the BMW Pro-Am Golf Tournament, which was the perfect platform for Johan to set his goals on not only breaking a record, but raising money the many benefits of BMW Charity Pro-Am. Johan sold over $25,000 of sponsorship on the drift car - and many of the sponsors were on hand to witness the record break.

Johan took the time to practice and make sure his execution of the drift attempt would be as flawless as possible. BMW was a great support and both North American and German engineers were involved in pre event details and checks. Johan took the time to put together a pre-event video with the help of Mike Lee - 26" Productions which currently has over 200,000 YouTube views. BMW Performance Center put together an open house day for spectators to not only witness the event, but to have the opportunity to get on track in a BMW themselves.

Event Day

Weather - check; plenty of camera's on the car - check; BMW PC instructors, logistics and support crew in place - check; sponsors and car enthusiasts on hand - check.

It was a flawless event for Johan and break the existing record of 6.94 miles and setting a new record at 51.278 miles. It took over an hour and 40 minutes to set the record. To celebrate Johan gave a great burn out drift in front of the crowd and for many lucky sponsors and spectators, they also got hot lap rides on the big track with Johan. On hand were many friends, family members, BMW clientele, and people who had come from as far as Vermont, Pennsylvania and Florida for the event.

"Johan did not disappoint. We knew he would break the record, but didn't anticipate by just how much he would do this. It was an exciting event and the first time we have witnessed a Guinness World Record." William Bohlayer exclaimed. "To top the event off with Johan's hot lap ride gave me just an idea of how accomplished a driver one must be."

BMW and Johan both had videographers and photographers onsite documenting the event. Combine, the videos currently have over 1,000,000 views on YouTube and Vimeo (see links to the left).

December of 2013, Johan received official word from Guinness World Record that the record is officially recorded.